By: Jerry Connors, Jr.
CHESTER PA – On a chilly, blustery day at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday, Resolve To Win got the best trip among the man contenders and won the $15,000 fast-class trot in 1:55.3.
There was quite a donnybrook early despite the cold, with Eurobond leaving and keeping Resolve To Win parked past a :27.3 quarter, with Benjamin Hanover, the favorite despite the outside post and a 27-day layoff, following early cover then working hard under tapping to pass that rival only just before the :56.4 half (the stretch headwind was more pronounced early than late, and this was the first race). “Benjamin” kept the lead to the 1:25 three-quarters and was forced to deal with a first-over move from Donato Patriot K.
In the lane it was apparent that the winner would be either the first-over or the pocket horse, and it was Resolve To Win to reach home first, a length to the good of Donato Patriot K. Tim Tetrick drove the Resolve gelding to his second straight victory, and fourth in his last six starts, for trainer Jeff Cullipher and owner Pollack Racing LLC.
Trainer Per Engblom teamed with driver Kasper Foget to win at first asking with two Scandinavian trotters making their U.S. bows. One came in the $14,000 co-featured event for horses on the rise, as the Bold Eagle mare Golden Rain S made an early move to take over the throttle and went on to a 1:56.1 victory for owner Thomas Lind-Holm. The other Engblom-Foget import went even faster as the Readly Express gelding Furst Igor S made a quick adjustment to racing on the west side of the Atlantic, never looking back in 1:56, with ownership of this promising horse shared by Foget and Engblom Stable LLC.
Following the lead of Foget and Engblom were driver Simon Allard and trainer Mark Akins, who doubled in the $13,500 contests for those one below the level of the co-features. In a thrilling battle between two speedy sophomore fillies, the Walner miss Sapphinerainstar yielded to a :27.3 backstretch brush of Only I Exist, who was going for her seventeenth win in a row over two years after breaking in her career bow, but then the “Star” courageously rallied back late as the favorite shortened a bit, winning by a nose in 1:55.3 for A 1 Racing.
As hard-fought as Sapphinerainstar’s victory was, the win of the Muscle Massive gelding Jesmach On Target was just as easy in the other section, taking the lead in front of the stands and winning handily in 1:56.2 for Allard/Akins and Rhodes Across The Board LLC.
Pacing mares had two feature events on the Thursday Philly card. A $13,500 handicap race for improving horses saw horses two- and three-wide at a couple of points in the mile, but the horse who won came up the inside – the Captaintreacherous three-year-old filly Bellucci, who rallied for the 1:54 tally for driver Justin Huckabone, trainer Scott Di Domenico, and owner Larry Fischer.
In a $13,000 handicap event, the Always B Miki sophomore filly Miki In Luv made the most of a cover journey, swept wide and beat out first-over Ambushed by a head in 1:53.4 for driver Brett Beckwith, trainer Ron Coyne Jr., and the partnership of Ron Coyne Stables Inc., Blair Corbeil, Richard Carney, and Farrell Carney.
Simon Allard drove the last race winner to break an eight-way logjam among horsemen who had previously posted two wins; one of that octet was trainer Mark Akins, with whom he won two feature trots, as did the team of driver Kasper Foget and trainer Per Engblom. Other two-time winners on the card were drivers Corey Callahan and Tim Tetrick (the meet leader); conditioning doubles were also rung up by Jeff Cullipher and Scott Di Domenico.
Friday’s racing at 12:25 features a $15,000 fast-class pace matching last week’s feature winner A Rocknroll Star; Mac’s Delight, a horse who has shown his quality here in the past; and Teddy Disco A, who looked powerful in his first start after coming from Down Under. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
CHESTER PA – On a chilly, blustery day at Harrah’s Philadelphia on Thursday, Resolve To Win got the best trip among the man contenders and won the $15,000 fast-class trot in 1:55.3.
There was quite a donnybrook early despite the cold, with Eurobond leaving and keeping Resolve To Win parked past a :27.3 quarter, with Benjamin Hanover, the favorite despite the outside post and a 27-day layoff, following early cover then working hard under tapping to pass that rival only just before the :56.4 half (the stretch headwind was more pronounced early than late, and this was the first race). “Benjamin” kept the lead to the 1:25 three-quarters and was forced to deal with a first-over move from Donato Patriot K.
In the lane it was apparent that the winner would be either the first-over or the pocket horse, and it was Resolve To Win to reach home first, a length to the good of Donato Patriot K. Tim Tetrick drove the Resolve gelding to his second straight victory, and fourth in his last six starts, for trainer Jeff Cullipher and owner Pollack Racing LLC.
Trainer Per Engblom teamed with driver Kasper Foget to win at first asking with two Scandinavian trotters making their U.S. bows. One came in the $14,000 co-featured event for horses on the rise, as the Bold Eagle mare Golden Rain S made an early move to take over the throttle and went on to a 1:56.1 victory for owner Thomas Lind-Holm. The other Engblom-Foget import went even faster as the Readly Express gelding Furst Igor S made a quick adjustment to racing on the west side of the Atlantic, never looking back in 1:56, with ownership of this promising horse shared by Foget and Engblom Stable LLC.
Following the lead of Foget and Engblom were driver Simon Allard and trainer Mark Akins, who doubled in the $13,500 contests for those one below the level of the co-features. In a thrilling battle between two speedy sophomore fillies, the Walner miss Sapphinerainstar yielded to a :27.3 backstretch brush of Only I Exist, who was going for her seventeenth win in a row over two years after breaking in her career bow, but then the “Star” courageously rallied back late as the favorite shortened a bit, winning by a nose in 1:55.3 for A 1 Racing.
As hard-fought as Sapphinerainstar’s victory was, the win of the Muscle Massive gelding Jesmach On Target was just as easy in the other section, taking the lead in front of the stands and winning handily in 1:56.2 for Allard/Akins and Rhodes Across The Board LLC.
Pacing mares had two feature events on the Thursday Philly card. A $13,500 handicap race for improving horses saw horses two- and three-wide at a couple of points in the mile, but the horse who won came up the inside – the Captaintreacherous three-year-old filly Bellucci, who rallied for the 1:54 tally for driver Justin Huckabone, trainer Scott Di Domenico, and owner Larry Fischer.
In a $13,000 handicap event, the Always B Miki sophomore filly Miki In Luv made the most of a cover journey, swept wide and beat out first-over Ambushed by a head in 1:53.4 for driver Brett Beckwith, trainer Ron Coyne Jr., and the partnership of Ron Coyne Stables Inc., Blair Corbeil, Richard Carney, and Farrell Carney.
Simon Allard drove the last race winner to break an eight-way logjam among horsemen who had previously posted two wins; one of that octet was trainer Mark Akins, with whom he won two feature trots, as did the team of driver Kasper Foget and trainer Per Engblom. Other two-time winners on the card were drivers Corey Callahan and Tim Tetrick (the meet leader); conditioning doubles were also rung up by Jeff Cullipher and Scott Di Domenico.
Friday’s racing at 12:25 features a $15,000 fast-class pace matching last week’s feature winner A Rocknroll Star; Mac’s Delight, a horse who has shown his quality here in the past; and Teddy Disco A, who looked powerful in his first start after coming from Down Under. Free Philly program pages are or will be available at www.phha.org.
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